Temtem News

Omninesia is almost ready to host new visitors. In just a week our backers will be walking along Nanga, buying goods and preparing their travel through the Canopath, discovering new Temtem species and, even more importantly, making new friends along the way.

Alpha 0.2 will launch next Thursday, June 13th.



This new content update for our on-going Alpha is huge: a whole new Island, new set of Temtem, new battle mechanics (Gears & Traits), several unannounced new features, lots of quality of life improvements and a million bug fixes.

We've poured our souls making it and we're very eager to see your reactions and opinions about it.

This update is written by Damian Sanchez, our composer.

Today, we’re talking about Temtem’s music!

This is not going to be an update talking about divine inspirations, musical notes, scales or chords. Instead, we will focus on the process of making music as part of a really busy development schedule.

I hope this text will bring some light on what’s the production process behind any of the music tracks.



So far Temtem has around 55 minutes of in-game music. And that is not counting alternate melodies (we’ll come back to that later) and night versions, which could easily add double the length. And remember we are still in Omninesia (which is the second island of the six planned). The final soundtrack, considering only main tracks, will probably end up having over 2 hours of music, so I had to create a fluid workflow and prepare the tools to meet the deadlines without compromising quality.

Even before the first note was written, I ensured to create a solid template project that could produce final results from day one. I spent several weeks picking the proper instrument libraries and doing sound and mix tests to make sure once I’m done writing a track, it could be directly exported to the audio engine and create the soundtrack file version without major adjustments needed.



In general terms, the music in Temtem is divided between:

• Cities. A song per city.
  
• Routes. A ‘main route’ per isle plus some extra music for parts that visually differ a lot from the main path. (like the Sillaro River in Deniz)
  
• Landmarks. A song per place.
  
• Special buildings (Home, Temporium, Dojo). A song per type.
  
• Combats. A song per type of enemy.
  

The average time to produce a track from scratch to fully working in-game is 2 weeks. Going into details:

• Cities are usually 2 minutes length - an average of 5 workdays.
  
• Route and Landmarks are 2 to 4 minutes length - an average of 10 workdays.
  
• Combats are 3 to 4 minutes length - an average of 15 workdays.
  

The first day is the most critical one. I start trying to come up with that cool melody which gives the perfect mood for the situation. At that time, I honestly spend more time discarding bad ideas than creating good ones, but when I'm happy, I export the first concept mockup ready for Crema's Wise Lord Evaluation Committee (aka Guillermo, Dani, Alex, Enrique, and Adri).

'Briçal de Mar' - First Concept Mockup - https://soundcloud.com/damiansanchezmusic/brical-de-mar-first-concept-mockup/s-XvJZb

In several cases I've spent up to 3 days to be 100% happy with something before being evaluated by the team, literally deleting every single note I've written. In a few other cases, the guys weren't happy with the proposal and I started the whole process again.

Team rejection is not so common (thankfully), but we take this evaluation very seriously and even if just one of the members is not happy with the proposal, it is tinkered and reviewed again until we are all comfortable with it.

Once the track reaches this point, I keep improving it and building the desired length with several additional evaluations until we come up with a complete structure, and then the fun comes!



That’s a picture of all the instruments I've performed and recorded live at my studio to add details that bring life to each track. In addition to that, I did some external recordings with professional musicians to give an extra punch to the song quality. Then a little bit of final mix and mastering and there it goes!

https://youtu.be/DKsjrvUwQ1s



There are some extra materials I must create for each track before it can be implemented in FMOD (the audio middleware we are using to program the audio behaviors).

The intro: There is a special intro section in each track that serves as a presentation of the area and its music. This will be played only the first time you visit a new zone (yes pay attention because it’s sounding just once) and encourages the player’s sense of discovery, but won't play again each time to avoid annoyance.

Random intro points: Once you have already visited a place, the music entry point will randomly change each further time you visit it. We designed a system of several intro points with their respective 'mini-intros’ that will hopefully help you avoid the repetition feeling happening when you hear a track starting once and again at the same point.

https://youtu.be/1RPH0XbP5rI

Alternate melodies: Probably the part of the integration I'm most proud. Almost every track has, at least, one part in which its main melody has several variations that will play randomly each time you reach that point.

This adds richness and keeps the freshness of the song longer without the need to increase the whole duration.

https://youtu.be/QgXg5gmIO1c

Alternate versions: There are some tracks that need alternate versions for places you visit under different situations in the story (think about a Belsoto invaded building and going back after you defeat them), aaaand… we are doing a night version for all cities and routes!

You’re going to experience a really cool mood change in the music when the night will fall on Temtem.

Deniz - Arissola - Night Version - https://soundcloud.com/damiansanchezmusic/deniz-arissola-night-version/s-AQQrg



Creating a music track for Temtem includes:

• Having a good idea.
  
• Getting approval from the team.
  
• Producing the whole track.
  
• Recording the live performed instruments.
  
• Choosing the start points and creating their respective intros.
  
• Composing the alternate melodies.
  
• Make the alternate and/or night version.
  
• Exporting all the materials for the audio engine.
  
• Program the behaviors in FMOD.
  
• Ask Dani to make his coding magic to call the music in-game correctly at its place.
  
• Playing that game area over and over to ensure everything works as intended.
  

Crazy uh?!... haha

As you may imagine, there is no time to get bored in Temtem development!

Thankfully, we found some of that time we don’t have to write some updates which I hope will ease your wait until Alpha 2 arrives.

See you at the Discord server!

Damian Sanchez.

“It sure looks like rain,” said Professor Víctor of Briçal as he looked out of the window. The gloomy Arburian skies were steadily turning a darker shade.

“Well, I suppose we have time for a story, then. Let me put the kettle on…”

The old armchair creaked when he dropped on it again. He took off his glasses.

“So, Digital Temtem, it is? I’m not surprised you’d ask about them. They are the newest, shiniest variety after all. And all that tech we have running on the same principles, like commcasters… or TVs, like you youngsters call them. But I suppose you want to hear about the Digitals themselves, right.”

“I was there, you know. When they were first developed. I was a young research assistant, fresh out of Properton College. I jumped on an airship as soon as I got the message, and rushed to Cipanku just in time to join the team. It costed a fortune too! Mind you, that was just before TemCards, so if you wanted to bring your favorite Temtem to Cipanku you had to book berth space for it too… Anyway, so I made it to the lab and met my first boss, Dr. Sasaya. Let me tell you, she was by far the best scientist and most intelligent woman in…”

The whistling of the kettle interrupted him. He served two mugs of fragrant tea and gave the stranger one of them. He cupped his in a hand, inhaling wistfully.

“Very à propos – Cipanki black tea, with a touch of Denizan jasmine. Reminds me of home, but also of my times in… but I digress. So, Dr. Sasaya. She was already a legend when I started working at her lab in Nanto. She had been investigating the information-storage properties of Omninesian volcanic crystal, and that’s how we came up with TemCards. It was pretty unexpected, trust me - Sasaya was never much into Temtem anyway. I was a Temtem fan, so I suggested we tried “storing” Temtem in them, and voilà, we came up with TemCards.”

“It’s difficult to exaggerate how important that breakthrough was. Before TemCards, Temtem had to be physically carried from one place to the other. That was a nightmare, believe me – many Earth Temtem were too heavy for airships, Fire ones were just too dangerous to handle, Water Temtem couldn’t survive for very long on dry land... It was a headache. TemCards provided a safe and easy way of carrying around dozens of Temtem. That’s what made Temtem taming the affordable pastime it is today. Before TemCards, you had to be pretty rich or influential to own more than a couple of Tems. No other invention has been as liberating as TemCards, after the development of airships…”

He sipped some tea, then nodded.

“But you were asking about Digital Temtem. Yes, yes, bear with me. So, of course, this generated incredible enthusiasm in the scientific community. It was a collective effort, you see - these principles had been described by Arburian theorists, but TemCards had been developed in a Cipanki lab, using Omninesian crystals and drawing on Kisiwan taming expertise during the trials. Everyone agreed that major tech breakthroughs required extensive collaboration. Nanto Labs used that prestige to bring in the best experts, people from all around the Archipelago. That was the team which developed Digital Temtem…”

The professor sat back, his eyes distant as he reminisced.

“And what a dream team it was! Professor Konstantinos from Properton did the theoretical groundwork – he was so young back then… Tihani of Nanga oversaw the Temtem breeding trials, a Dojo undergrad but already the best breeder in the Myrisles. Yareni of Quetzal, Nalla of Vumbi, the very crème de la crème was there… But Dr. Sasaya wasn’t interested in the Temtem side of the research, she was always more of a pure technologist. She wanted to concentrate on the applications of the tech itself, so in her stead, she put Dr. Hamijo, her most promising pupil. That turned out to be… a mistake.”

He gulped down some tea and left the mug over a precariously-balanced pile of books.

“Sure, generally speaking, it was a success. Digital Temtem were born! And that was no mean feat. It was well beyond our initial scope too - funny how nobody remembers this, but our initial brief was to create Crystal-Electric hybrids. Digital Temtem were a little happy accident! And it made sense too - we had loads of experience working with crystal from the development of TemCards, and Tihani showed us how to choose the best volcanic varieties. And most of the research assistants were Cipanki, so they really knew their Electric Temtem.”

“So, who knew you could theoretically code information as ones and zeroes? Professor Konstantinos, building on Dr. Sasaya’s research. But, to use electricity to store that information into crystalline formations? That was Dr. Hamijo’s genius. And who knew how to tame those new Temtem and develop ways to communicate with them so that they could be taught? You guessed it, young Tihani. It all came together like magic.”

A shadow fell on the professor’s eyes. His mouth twitched a little.

“But as amazing as this invention was, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Digital technology had many more uses, as we all know now. Communications, transport, pansolar energy. We leaped a century ahead, all in mere years. It was intoxicating. For the first time, the Archipelago was coming together... I guess all this went to his head.”

“Dr. Hamijo thought the team shouldn’t stop with Digital Temtem. He wanted to push forward and create more varieties of Temtem, specifically suited to serve humans. Now, this raised ethical issues within the team – Tihani and Nalla said that was inhuman towards Temtem, but Hamijo just doubled down, proclaimed he wanted to create a new race of Temtem slaves. Konstantinos tried to mediate, but it was too late.”

The professor sighed, lacing his fingers together.

“In the end, Dr. Sasaya had to intervene. She had been busy developing most of the Digital-derived technology we have nowadays, including the HealTem machines you can see in any Temporium. There was a meeting, a vote, and Dr. Hamijo was expelled from the team. He didn’t take it well. He just disappeared, and nobody has heard from him ever since.”

He shrugged sorrowfully, recovering his tea mug for another sip.

“But that was years ago. We all moved on. Nanto Labs carried on developing new Digital Temtem, and the tech spilled over. Now it’s everywhere. Everyone went home. Tihani became Dojo Master. Konstantinos has been traveling around, last I heard he was in Deniz researching meta-mimetic Temtem. I returned to my alma mater and these days I’m teaching Lore at Properton. It’s more laid back… oh, Dr. Sasaya? She still writes. She’s back in Nanto, working on some crazy “instant matter transfer” experiment, whatever that is…”

The stranger got up suddenly, something in his hand. The professor caught the glint of something flashing. His eyes went wide...

We love giving our community the chance to name new Temtem, and you already helped us name a few:

• Nessla, Ampling and Amphatyr
  
• Umishi and Ukama
  
• Kalazu and Kalabyss
  

And today, we bring you a new contest!



#037 evolves into #038. Both #037 and #038 are common inhabitants of the areas around the Anak Volcano in Omninesia. Also both are pure-fire type.

As usual, we're running the contest in our Discord server. We will be accepting new name suggestions up until Monday, then we will chose our favorites and we'll let the community vote on the final name.

Work never stops at Crema, so one more week we're here with a new patch for the Alpha!



The Aguamarina Caves are a complex of caverns that run deep under the Thalassian Cliffs. The better-known entrance is through the Sillaro River, but they're so huge they even cross the whole cliffs and connect the river to the upper area of the Indigo lake.



The Caves have five different floors and they include a new gameplay feature: the crystal areas. We don't want to spoil too much, so you'll need to go ahead and discover it by yourself. The crystal areas affect how the player moves through the terrain and they will be very present along the whole Archipelago.



Right now the Caves are a totally optional area to explore and they don't have too much in terms of interesting new Temtem or items. In the future, we plan to re-populate them with some more Temtem so they will become the first area in the game where you will be able to obtain them. They will also hold a special and unique shrine you will be able to reach with the climbing equipment...





One of the more prominent features missing from the current Alpha is the option to go inside the houses currently placed on Deniz. This ends today!



With this patch, you will be able to visit the houses and talk with the people inside them. Houses are also usually something optional, but they add so much richness to the lore and the overall feeling of the game we wanted to include them as soon as possible.



You'll notice some of the houses are still closed. These houses are "special" places that will open in future updates since they are related to some unavailable features right now. We added an Alpha sign to them so you will know where you can enter or not.

By the way, almost everything you see in the NPC houses will also be available to player housing. We're doing everything as flexible as we can so everything works for the player's houses too.





As usual, there's a lot of things on this patch. We've made a huge number of improvements and fixes including some important ones like improving the initial cinematic flow or making sure the AI uses the rest option when needed in battles. We also managed to find one of the most endearing bugs in the Alpha which caused the NPC tamers to forget about you and ask for a fight constantly.



We also included some new stuff: 4 new Luma species, 9 new Techniques including a new Status Effect, death voices for every Temtem, new sounds here and there... You can read the full patch notes in our forum.



As you already know we're still working on the next huge content patch for the Alpha, which will include a whole new Island, new Temtem and several new features. We don't have a fixed date for that content yet, so we will be keeping you posted in the coming weeks.

Also, we're working on having a pre-order option for users who want to buy the game and get instant access to the Alpha. Although it looks like something easy, having a pre-order store implicates a lot of stuff under the roof and we want to make everything right as usual. Please, bear with us while we work on having everything ready!